According to a report in the Bristol Herald Courier, a Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judge handed down twin 30-day suspended sentences to two boys accused of malicious wounding in the beating of a schoolmate last December outside the Bristol Public Library.

Judge Florence A. Powell also placed 16-year-olds Nathan Anthony Johnston and Austin Taylor Shaw on active probation indefinitely, admonishing them that their felony convictions will follow them for the rest of their lives.

Johnston was accused of delivering the blows that broke the nose of 15-year-old Steven Hilliard; Shaw was accused of luring Hilliard outside the library to face Johnston. Not present in court was a third juvenile, Zachary Ferguson, 17, who was accused of videotaping the beating and charged with misdemeanor assault and battery.